Three Job Interview No-No’s

Your job interview seems to be going just fine — except the hiring manager keeps asking you a variation of the same question over and over again. Get used to it, says Richard Moy in this post  about what not to say in a job interview.

Tips to Recession-Proofing Your Career

Concerns over job security and the economy continue, especially when leading companies such as Johnson & Johnson, Yahoo Inc., and Chevron, among others, have announced plans to cut as many as 14,000 jobs. Entrepreneur Caren Merrick has these tips to “recession-proof” your career.

• Take initiative and ask your manager and superiors how you can make it easier for them, increasing your value and giving you the chance to work together
• Volunteer for special projects; do work key to your organization’s future
• Record your accomplishments, update your LinkedIn and make sure to quantify them
• Act more like an owner than employee – no matter what your position
• Work your network by adding value to them, improving all involved
• And don’t forget to de-stress, which is critical to your creativity and happiness.

Leave Your Job, Gracefully

In a recent post, we talked about how this is the time of year when many of us are most likely to be looking around for a new job.  That means resignations that are right around the corner. If you’re one of the lucky ones about to add a new line to your resume, how you leave your job can seriously impact your career. This piece in The New York Post shows how to resign without aggravating your soon-to-be-past employer.

Want Work/Life Balance? Science May Play a Role

Glassdoor has compiled a list of the 25 jobs with the highest ratings for work-life balance. A surprising number of the positions that allow for work-life balance seem to require a background in science, The New York Post reports. Making the cut: include data scientist, UX (“user experience”) designer, digital marketing manager, civil engineer and lab assistant.

Study: Taking Low-Level Jobs Hurts in Long Run

A post-recession study has found that employers seeking office workers were more likely to call unemployed applicants with relevant experience than those with similar backgrounds who took a lower-level position during the economic downturn.  Nearly 10% of the jobless applicants were called by the employes, compared to 8.5% of those who had taken a stopgap job.  But some staffing experts still say having a job, any job, beats the alternative, USA Today reports. “I think the employer… says they’re continuing to work and continuing to develop their skills,” says John Reed, an executive at staffing firm Robert Half.

Sleeping More at Home Pays Off at Work

Sleep deprivation causes many problems: a spike in heart disease risk, depression, weight gain and certain types of cancer, says sleep researcher James B. Maas. Plus, it will make you less popular at the office, since it makes it harder to concentrate, make decisions and get along with others. But get anywhere between 7 ½ and nine hours of sleep, you’re almost three times more likely to gain insight into a problem compared those who remained awake, says Maas. Read more tips here.